Visits
by Torikki Jinx
Summary: She was lovely in her dress, it was unfortunate her loveliness wasn't as eternal as she was. She stayed the same in their abandoned home, with dead flowers surrounding her cold beauty. Pein knows he deserves this curse, he knows, but he doesn't care. She doesn't deserve this, doesn't deserve to be caught up in all the sins he committed.


**Visits**

 _"I've got your back."_

* * *

 _"Its okay, Yahiko. Its okay, it's gonna be okay. I'll be fine."_

Pein forgot how many years it has been since then; when he used to be able to taste, to breathe, to live, to _die_. He forgot how it was to grow old, his cells kept repairing and repairing that there's not a single grey hair on his head.

The leaves sounded beneath his boots with a crunch as he walked the familiar wide path to a place he visits every now and then. The bushes he remembered having roses were nothing more than bundled sticks. The wind was cold, not that he feels it. He just knew, with the flapping of his dark trench coat, that the wind was cold. It was always cold here.

But back then, the cold was bearable.

Everything back then was bearable with her around.

Standing in front of the large wooden double doors, Pein admired the cracks on its walls. The paint of the mansion is nearly gone now, only replaced with the colour of the hard stone and cement it's made of. The door opened with a slow creak and Pein was greeted with the sight of dust everywhere in the living hall.

The stairs had holes now, some were fairly new. _'Rats.'_ He thought, well at least some beings were okay with living here. Not bothering to place his coat on the broken coat hanger, the ginger head man continued his stride to the right wing of the mansion.

 _"Yahiko, Yahiko! Just look at this kitchen! It's so beautiful! What do you want? I can make snacks right now if you're hungry!"_

Entering the heart of the mansion, Pein saw her there in his mind's eye. Bumbling and going about with the pots and pans, no doubt cooking something delicious for him as he arrives home.

 _"You're late, mister. Where have you been?"_

Ignoring the scuttling rats on the counter, Pein eyed the old rusting cooking instrumentals. He should've given them away, he knew it would've benefited for others better but he couldn't. Those were hers. He couldn't give away something she loved, even if she was long gone.

The door to the garden was open, with its hinges broken. The previous storm must've hit the place hard. He should fix it, like every other thing in the house. He used to keep the entire mansion clean, even after the servants left one by one. He used to but he grew sick of it.

Pein grew sick at the sight of his home, neat and clean and perfect, and expect that his wife would come barrelling down the stairways to greet him every time he comes back home. So he left.

Left everything to rot and fall apart, just like she did.

Except she didn't rot and fall apart like everything else.

Pein finally entered the center of the dead garden, zooming in on the dead flowers in front of a stone cold figure. Baby's breath in his hands, he immediately replaced the dead ones with it. Stooping low to move the dead plants to the other dead things surrounding the elegant figure, Pein placed the flowers on the figure's feet.

She was beautiful as always, from head to toe.

With her hair still in stone and her eyes curved in a smile, she welcomed him like she does every time he visits. She smiled at him like he was her entire world, and maybe he was. He liked to think he was someone important to her, like how important and loved she was to him.

The wedding dress was the same, fit on her like a glove, and her hands were clasped with the bouquet of eternal baby's breath in them. He remembers the day clearly, even after centuries passed by. The day of how she ended up like this, nothing more than stone.

 _The entire garden was alive. People and food flooded in and the music was loud and thriving in the air. People smiled and laughed and congratulated them._

 _It was a happy day._

 _A sniffle caught his attention, and he had to contain the laughter bubbling up his throat les he wanted a black eye for the ceremony._

 _"Yahiko..." Said man looked at the woman, dressed in white with her pretty hair done up and her pretty eyes dripping with tears._

 _"Stop crying dear, it'll ruin your make up." He chided with mirth, tugging her hand towards him to lightly embrace her side._

 _"You -hiccup- You know that I didn't want to put make up on in the first place!" Yes, yes he does. He knows she's already beautiful without anything on her face. 'She's especially beautiful without **anything** on.' _

_"Yahiko..."_

 _"Yes, dear?"_

 _And she smiled, with the tears unending and her teeth blinding. He fell in love all over again._

 _"God, I love you, Yahiko." His heart was broken, he knew, but with her maybe it was alright. She was whole, whole enough for the both of them to live on. He could love her with all he has and it was okay._

 _"And I, you, my love."_

How foolish it was.

How foolish _he_ was, thinking he could protect her from everything. Pein looked at the face he knows for so long; unmoving as the stone it was turned to. How he longed for some sort of movement, maybe a tear or two and it would've been fine for him. But it was too late, centuries too late, the contract has ended and her soul is gone. Lost somewhere in the world, not knowing how she was loved by a man like him. A monster like _him_.

Her smiles used to warm him like a fire, igniting it deep within his heart and spreading through his veins.

Now, it's been centuries and the fire is nothing more than ashes. The words of the witch that spoke to him echoed in his head, and Pein can vision how Sakura slowly froze up in stone.

 _You are a murderer, no matter how beloved._

And Sakura, with her eternal smile, was cold and still as always when he visits.

* * *

So hey, yeah I'm alive. Sorry about that. It's just hectic and yeah I can't make any reasonable excuses so here. I don't if I'm gonna continue this or anything. Leave reviews and maybe I'll decide.

If your're wondering why I decided to post after a while its because my mail kept informing me of new followers and favourites. I felt guilty for only publishing my previous stories and not continuing them so here. I'm inspired to write once more. Thank you to all my beloved readers. Sorry for the short and crappy plot bunny.

\- Torikki J. ~


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